Fortum

HELSINKI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Finland's government has rejected an application from utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) to extend a permit for a new nuclear reactor in the west of the country, Economy Minister Jan Vapaavuori told reporters on Thursday.

TVO had requested a five-year extension to the Olkiluoto 4 reactor project because it was dealing with delays and overruns at its predecessor, Olkiluoto 3.

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Commercial production at Finnish nuclear reactor Olkiluoto 3 is likely to be delayed until 2016, utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) warned on Monday, the latest setback in plans for the country's fifth such plant.

TVO said there had been delays in planning the plant's automation system and that it had not yet received proper schedule updates from consortium Areva-Siemens , which is building the reactor.

STOCKHOLM--The Oskarshamn 2 nuclear reactor in southern Sweden will be taken offline Thursday after the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority ordered an immediate shut-down due to safety concerns.

The authority said the reactor's operator, OKG, which is owned by German utility E.ON AG and Finnish Fortum Oyj, hasn't been able to show that important safety functions comply with the required standards.

The authority's concerns relate mainly to diesel generators which are part of the plant's backup power system.

The project director of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant, Posiva President Reijo Sundell, insists there is no space for waste from utilities other than TVO or Fortum in the Onkalo underground disposal site on Finland's west coast.

Onkalo (or ‘cave’) is being dug into the bedrock near the Olkiluoto power station by Posiva, which is 60 percent owned by TVO and 40 percent by Fortum. The latter utility owns two commercial reactors in Loviisa on the south-east coast, and has applied to build a third. TVO has two operating reactors on Olkiluoto, an island in the municipality of Eurajoki, on the west coast between Rauma and Pori.

The Decision-in-Principle (DiP) in 2002 to build a fifth nuclear power plant made Finland the center of attention when the nuclear power industry began to see its chances. Finland is the first country to have made a decision on final storage of nuclear waste. Finland is also the only Nordic country in which energy consumption is rising.

Stockholm - Two of Sweden's 10 nuclear reactors were to be offline for at least a month as checks continued on the control rods used to control the nuclear fission process, officials said Monday. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority last week ordered operators to check the control rods after cracks were detected in the control rods at one of the three reactors at the Oskarhamn nuclear plant, south-eastern Sweden.

Stockholm - The Swedish nuclear watchdog on Wednesday filed charges against the operators of a Swedish nuclear plant over failing to uphold security checks at the plant. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority said the Oskarshamn nuclear plant operators had failed to ensure 24-hour checks of people entering and leaving the site.

The security lapse was detected in connection with an inspection at the end of May, the nuclear watchdog said.

Mikael Lilius, the chief executive of Finnish utility Fortum, was quoted as saying by Energia, an industry publication, on Monday that the Finland should grant a permit to build a nuclear power station to all three hopefuls.

"I cannot understand why one should start regulating who can build and who cannot when we have three willing builders," Mr Lilius told Energia, referring to Fennovoima, Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima.

The utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) plans to submit its application to build a sixth nuclear reactor this spring. The rapid timing came as a surprise to the rival Fennovoima consortium, which is not planning to hand in its application until next year. The state says it wants any groups interested in building a new nuclear unit to apply for a permit within the next few months.

Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen says he wants all applications on his desk at the same time, and soon. He adds that he does not intend to wait for many months after receiving the first application -- which could be as soon as May.